Mack brings U.S. Senate campaign, petition to Orlando

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV brought his Republican U.S. Senate campaign to town Wednesday in the form of a petition calling on President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson – both Democrats -- to change their minds on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

At Orange Texaco, near downtown Orlando, Mack declared Nelson should stop playing "politics" and support construction of the roughly 2,000-mile pipeline, proposed to carry oil from Canadian tar sands to American refineries in Texas. With its environmental impact still being debated, Obama rejected the northern portion of the pipeline through Nebraska, though parts of the pipeline still are being built.

"We are conducting a petition drive throughout the state of Florida and nationally to tell Sen. Nelson and Barack Obama to build the Keystone XL pipeline and build it now," said Mack, of Fort Myers. "We're tired of the politics. We're tired of seeing gas prices continue to go through the roof. We're tired of Sen. Nelson saying, 'I'd vote for the pipeline if it would only do this, if only it would do that.'"

Mack would not say how many petition signatures he hopes his campaign will collect, nor would he discuss his own record on energy, except to say he supports nuclear, drilling in Alaska, the pipeline and an "all of the above strategy."

Mack's chief Republican rival, George LeMieux, challenged Mack's past positions, charging that he had voted in favor of a 2010 Gulf of Mexico drilling moratorium and against a 2005 bill calling for an inventory of oil reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf. Asked about those votes, Mack replied, "I would suggest to my opponent that maybe he should sign our petition and stand with us."

Nelson campaign spokesman Christian Robinson said that the "if only" Nelson sought was a requirement that the Keystone oil be reserved for U.S. use and not exported.